Highlight of the Week

A Potential Baptism

This week was pretty normal. until saturday. on saturday our BML worked with us. we went to sis. rapacon she has been an investigator for a very lond time. she was first taught 20 years ago! haha! she has always come to church with her family but she has never made the decision to be baptised. we were very blessed this last saturday that our BML was there. over the years they had gotten to know each other fairly well. during the lesson our BML was very bold with her. he also spoke a lot in Ilocano (so we didn't understand so well) haha. while he was speaking to her she started to cry. because they were speaking in ilocano we were not sure whether they were fighting or whether sis. was feeling the spirit. (Ilocano always makes the speaker sound angry for some reason even if they aren't. haha! its confusing sometimes) when our BML stopped talking we jumped in to fix what we thought was, a bad situation. haha. turns out that our BML had finally gotten through the self created beliefs(every church is true, i don't need to be baptized) that sis. rapacon had held on to for so many years. haha. i am not so sure what he said but once he stopped talking all we had to do was extend a baptismal date. haha. because she has been taught everything and because she goes to church every week we were able to schedule it on the 28! haha. this experience has been another testimony to me that this work is inspired and that the work is more effective when members work with missionaries. i wish i could have worked with them before the mission. haha. i will just need to wait till after, to work with them, haha! wierd thought. haha.

that was probably the highlight of this week! haha! all the members are excited that she has finnaly decided to be baptized! haha!

Another Crazy Week in the Philippines

Boanerges and Omkar

this week was good. we continued to teach Boan and Omkar. brother boan is super smart and knows the bible back and forth. haha. he has started to read the BOM. he has a ton of questions about nearly every verse. haha he compares it all to the bible. haha. sometimes as we are teaching he will tell us he has a question then teach us for 3 min about a story in the bible and ask how it applies or fits with a story in the BOM. haha.  for instance once nephi says to his brethren "and surely moses spake unto the waters..." but he compared it to the bible wich never says that moses spoke unto the water. haha. we are trying to get  him to rely more on praying about the BOM and seeking the Holy Ghost rather than trying to prove it through evidences. haha.

Abang

this week we also started teaching the Abang family and prince again. they were our investigators before but we refferred them to the sister missionaries in our branch because they live closer. but they never went to teach them so they gave them back to us. the Abang family as well as prince, if you remember, almost got baptised. bro. abbang just had to stop smoking. and we just needed to finish teaching prince all the lessons. so we are still working toward preparing them for baptism.

Baclas and Old Ladies

this week we also had a crazy week with baclas and old ladies haha!! we were finding and we met an old nanay and a group of middle aged men. because they were drinking we told them we would just come back at another time. as E.Hoopes was shaking the old ladies hand she pulled him in and gave him a kiss on the cheek! hahaha!!! then later that day we met 2 Baclas(gays) both about 30-40y. we also told them we would share the next time around because i don't feel comfortable teaching baclas without a fellowshiper. as we were trying to go one tried to hug us! yuck! we are definitly staying away from that area for a long time!!!! haha.

Pictures of a Boodle Fight, Omkar and Boangerges, and Maps of their area

Competition and Business

Lunch with the Mission President

we were the last missionaries to get interviewed so when we were finished all the other missionaries had already gone. Pres. Barrientos invited us to go to lunch with them! haha! he took us to a super nice Boodle fight restaraunt! haha! Boodle fight= when they put banana leaves on the table for your plates. haha they ordered a ton of food. i don't want to make you jealous so i wont describe the food (grilled pork, tilapia,catfish,squid, also sisig, eggplant,muscles, sea weed, sili, and unlimited rice) too much haha!!! lets just say it was super good! haha it was also fun to go eat out with our mission president and the APs. they are super funny people.

Boanerges and Omkar and Business

we are still teaching Boanerges. he invited one of his friends to also listen, Omkar. they are both super nice and willing to learn. they have many challenges ahead of them in order for them to progress but they can do it. haha. we are also a little worried that their interest in the church is based on thier desire to get to america or to start up a buisness with me and elder Hoopes! haha! they keep trying to set up buisness deals(3-4years from now)! haha! from what they told me and from what i understood they want us to start the buisness because they cant unless their are american. but they will provide funding. haha! i don't know if i want to be a buisness man. haha maybe i will just refer them to dad! haha! hopefully they will continue to progress when we tell them that we aren't here to do buisness. haha.

Boanerges and the Power of the Spirit

New Companion

My companion(e.Hoopes) is from arizona. he is a cool kid. I like him. he is in elder tanner's batch. so he is still pretty new at the language but he is working at it.

yesterday i interviewed to kids for thier baptisms. one is 12, and the other 9. they are the only ones in their families who come to church. but they love to because they told me that they feel the spirit. haha they are both really sweet.

New Indian Investigator

yesterday a member who works as a security guard for a college student dorm brought a foriegn exchange student to church. guess where he is from..........India. haha he is sweet! his name is Boanerges. aparently they don't have last names in india. He can speak english and his native language Tamal or something. haha. he invited us to his dorm to teach him yesterday. it was wierd teaching in english but it was a great lesson. he is super humble and positive. he wants to be baptized! he told us that he felt the spirit in church and he is super interested in the book of mormon. he is already christian so he believes in the bible but he also believes that prophets wouldn't just be called in one area of the world! haha So far he is a golden investigator. he asked how he could join our church and we gave him a baptismal date. haha. the only problem i see is when he goes home there might not be churches there... i don't know.. are there any churches in india?

Missionary Parents

also a sister missionary reacently finished her mission. her parents picked her up and have been touring her past areas. vigan was one of them. they came to church yesterday. haha it was wierd to have americans there! haha. everyone was kinda going crazy! haha! they were super excited to see/meet them. haha! her mom insisted that we all take pictures so she could upload them on the facebook page! it reminded me of you mom! haha. enjoy the pictures! haha.

well that is about it for this week. next week we have interviews with our mission president. i am excited i always learn a lot!